Add Bookmark to IE automatically for new users on a computer

Question

When I set up a PC, I would like to be able to have it so when anyone logs into that PC from the domain a couple of IT bookmarks will be in IE.

I read I can do this with a Domain-Level group policy, but unfortunately, with my current domain group policies have not gone well, so I have fear (Rather not get into this in this question).

Can I do this at the PC level when I deploy a new computer? So any domain users who log into the PC will have these bookmarks added when their profile is created (no roaming profiles). These are XP machines, and the domain is run by 2003 controllers.

Answer 1

You can create a simple user-logon script to copy the desired .URL files into %USERPROFILE%\Favorites. This method will require you to roll your own "clean-up" and updates methods.

qad:

IF NOT EXIST "%USERPROFILE%\Favorites\desired_bookmark_name.url" (
  COPY "%NETSOURCE%\desired_bookmark_name.url" "%USERPROFILE%\Favorites\desired_bookmark_name.url"
)

You could walk a list of desired Favorites with FOR and add them as needed.

The Group Policy method would be best though. You can add/remove/update Favorites entries. GP also allows you to specify an icon for the Favorites as well as their order in the IE listing. There are options for deleting existing Favorites [which sounds like your main concern] which you can easily disable.

Edit

Per your non-scripted comment.

If you don't want to script it and the computer has not had any users log on... You could add the Favorites to the Default User profile's Favorites folder. This is not ideal but will put the populate the Favorites of every new user profile created on the computer.

Answer 2

I suggest you to try the Group Policy method - it's really nothing to be afraid of :)

Group policy editor: User Configuration / Windows Settings / Internet Explorer Maintenance / URLs

I guess if you really don't want to use GPOs then you could also create a startup script of some kind that would copy the shortcut file to %homepath%/Favorites folder...